


Traditions gotta start somewhere

by Blueyedgurl



Series: Fluffy one shots [13]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Holidays, Idiots in Love, Mistletoe, No Pregnancy, Safe to read if you are triggered by pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27976311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blueyedgurl/pseuds/Blueyedgurl
Summary: Christmas Tree vignettes of Rey and Ben over the course of their relationship.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: Fluffy one shots [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1849954
Comments: 4
Kudos: 52
Collections: Reylodazzle





	Traditions gotta start somewhere

**_4 years ago_ **

It was the first Christmas out of the dorms and their apartment was a mess of cranberry and popcorn garland. 

“We’re going to get mice.” Ben told her with a grimace. 

Rey just rolled her eyes and continued to stick the food pieces with her needle. 

“It’ll be fine, you worry too much.” Rey told him.

“I just don’t understand all of this.” He said gesturing towards the two paper bags of Christmas lights and ornaments Rey got from one of the ladies she worked with.

“I never had much of a Christmas growing up.” Rey shrugged, a frown tugging at the corner of her mouth and he felt like an idiot. 

“I’m sorry.” He told her. 

“It’s ok. I don’t expect you to understand all of these things.”

“Are you putting up a tree?” He asked her, trying to smooth over his error.

Rey’s eyes twinkled mischievously, and a grin ticked at the corner of her mouth and he was relieved despite the sense of encroaching danger. Her trap was sprung.

“If you go with me so I can get it home. I think they’d frown upon me taking it on the bus and it should fit in or on your jeep.” Her eyes hopeful.

Ben sighed, “Ok.”

That year they had the world’s ugliest tree adorning their apartment, but his roommate was happy with it. She wouldn’t let him pay for it, so they were stuck with the Charlie Brown variety. But it was her first tree that she got for herself, so Rey just beamed and hung her strange collection of ornaments on it. For Christmas he bought her a fancy star to go on top because it was the one thing that was missing from the odd collection of hand me down ornaments she had. Rey ended up tying it onto the top of the tree because the thing leaned terribly under the extra weight but she beamed at him when it finally stuck and she kissed his cheek.

His heart melted a bit, but he didn’t say anything.

**_2 years ago_ **

They had finally graduated last spring and they had both found their own places on opposite sides of the city so that way they could be closer to their respective places of work. Ben on the business side and Rey on the industrial one. 

He worried about her sometimes but knew she had a need to figure stuff out on her own, so he didn’t argue with her. They still talked practically every day and saw each other on weekends, he tried to date but couldn’t find anyone that interested him beyond initial conversations. 

He was about to leave the office for the night when his phone rang.

“Ben!” Rey said in a sing song voice before he could even answer her properly.

“Yes?” He knew a trap when she set one.

“I need your help me with something and your jeep. Pick me up from work?”

“Now?” 

“Please?”

She knew he’d never tell her no so he got in his vehicle and picked her up. He didn’t even think about her getting her annual Christmas tree. Rey directed him to the now familiar lot, and she picked out the biggest tree they had. With the apartment she had it would fit height wise, but he knew it would eat up her whole entire living room floor.

Together they fastened it to the top of his jeep and with some effort were able to maneuver it through the halls to her apartment. 

Panting and covered in sap they stood back, Ben was vindicated in estimation of the tree filling Rey’s apartment. He sat on the sofa and watched Rey put on lights, helping occasionally with the tall spots, if he straightened his legs, he could touch the branches with his feet which elicited scowls from his best friend. 

When she pulled the star out of the box she looked up at the high point of the tree with a bit of a frown. Smiling, Ben got up from his watchful perch on the sofa and bent low to scoop Rey up onto his shoulder. After a squeal, a wobble and a few hairs lost to panicked fingers, the star was successfully secured to the top of the tree. 

That year Ben gave her a glass pickle for her tree. 

**_Last year_ **

When he walked into her apartment it was absolutely freezing and his anxiety ratcheted up higher than it was already. Rey wasn’t the most organized person in the world, but he never would have guessed things were this bad. He hadn’t heard from her in two days and in a worried panic he stopped at her apartment after work. When she didn’t answer the door, he let himself into the apartment to see empty ramen packets and a sink full of dishes.

“Rey?!” 

He was at the door to her bedroom in a few strides to find her huddled under the blankets with tissues everywhere.

“Rey? What’s wrong?” His heart raced in his chest and his stomach turned as if he was going to be sick. He didn’t know if he was supposed to be worried or angry at whatever had brought her so low. 

When he peeked at her under the covers her eyes were red rimmed and puffy.

He knelt down in the scattered mess of dirty clothes and used tissues not caring about the mess.

“Hey, what happened?” He asked softly, brushing hair away from her face. 

“I got laid off.” She said with a sniffle and tears. He let out a sigh of relief that nobody had hurt her.

“I can’t afford to stay here, and I’ve been looking for work but can’t find anything. Nobody is hiring until after the first of the year.”

“Ok.” He was confused, this was an easy solution, he didn’t know why she was so upset. “You’ll just move in with me until you figure it out.” 

That seemed to be the wrong answer as she started crying and hid back under the blanket. 

After a brief tug of war that confused him more than anything, he could see Rey’s face again. 

“I don’t want to be a burden. I was finally on my own.” She sobbed.

“Hey.” He said firmly. “You aren’t a burden. You don’t talk about my friend like that.” She gave him a watery smile at the line she usually fed him and sniffled. 

“Look. When is the lease up?” He asked, he knew she had gone month by month not wanting to make a long commitment. 

“Two weeks?” She said weakly.

“Well, then I guess we better start packing. We’ll just spend Christmas at my place this year.” 

Rey got moved in with him relatively quickly, turning his office into her bedroom. 

That year Ben bought a modest and reasonable tree and Rey decorated with her ornaments. When Finn and Poe came over for their holiday a party, the two men decorated with green sprigs of something that Ben didn’t understand the purpose of. They didn’t seem to smell like anything and after a while he just shrugged it off. His interest in the holiday season started and ended with Rey and he saw no point in researching it further.

It was when they were chatting with friends and sharing drinks that he learned what the green sprigs were.

“Oh, guys you’re under the mistletoe! You know what that means.” Finn said pointing wildly between him and Rey. Ben just looked around for an answer and Rey blushed and looked at the ground as if embarrassed. 

“I don’t get it.” Ben told Finn to a reception of eye rolls and a groan. 

“You’re supposed to kiss?” Finn said bewildered.

Ben looked up at the green sprig and things finally connected.

“Yeah. I’m not doing that.” Ben said, trying to cover his own embarrassment. He liked Rey. Loved her even but he had no wish for their first kiss to be so public or forced. If he was going to kiss her it was because that was what they both wanted. 

But he could see the forced smile on Rey’s face, and he wondered what was causing the upset. He filed the thought away for later and spent the rest of the evening talking to their friends and playing the good host. 

When everyone was gone and him and Rey were cleaning up, he steeled himself to broach the topic. 

“Are we okay?” He asked her. She froze like a deer in the headlights.

“What? Of course, why?” She brushed off but he didn’t fall for it.

“Just, Finn and the mistletoe… you seemed upset.” 

She bit her lip and looked nervous. 

“Rey?” His heart pounded in his ears. 

“I like you, okay? I’ve tried not to.” Rey said, her eyes watering and her lip pressed between her teeth.

His mind raced and hope filled his chest and she looked at the ceiling trying to avoid his dumbfounded gaze when his eyes landed on the mistletoe hanging above the kitchen counter. Ben was usually oblivious, but he saw his chance and he wasn’t going to let it slip away. In two steps his hand was cupping her jaw and his lips were pressed against hers. 

When he pulled back Rey’s face shifted from embarrassed to questioning and after a few more kisses the only thing he was graced with was happy tears and a beaming smile.

Present

“Ben! You can come out.” Rey shouted at him from down the hall.

He had spent the morning holed up in his office while she prepared some sort of surprise that he wasn’t allowed to see. 

He padded down the hall in the fuzzy Christmas socks she insisted that he wear and when he turned the corner to the living room, he was greeted with the sight of a holiday explosion. Mistletoe hung from the ceiling, the tree they picked out the night before was adorned with lights and garland, but it was on a stand he didn’t recognize.

“What’s that?” He asked her.

“Something I designed when we spent the week with your parents.” She grinned. She pushed a button on a remote and the tree spun in a slow dazzling circle to reveal ornate red and silver ornaments on the other side.

“My grandma Padme’s ornaments?” Ben said with awe. His mom decorated for Christmas but wasn’t big on the sentimental pieces, honestly, he was surprised she still had them. But growing up he remembered sitting under his grandma’s tree and being dazzled by the sparkle of them. 

“Yup.” Rey said, obviously pleased with herself.

“Perfect.” He told her, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her cheek.

“Help me with the star?” She asked him. 

“Absolutely.” He said, waiting for her to be ready before scooping her up so she could reach the top. 

“Best Christmas ever?” Rey asked as they admired her handy work.

“Best Christmas so far.” He corrected, there was definitely a box with her name on it that might make this moment rather small in comparison. 


End file.
